No Lapse in Liberties

No Lapse in Liberties

Article excerpt

A number of wise voices have cautioned that the terror attack
unleashed on America must not become an excuse for suspending basic
American principles and values.

That warning has immediate application to the treatment of the
country's millions of citizens of Arab background and Muslim faith.
In numerous parts of the US, hatred and prejudice have reared their
heads in the days since the terrorist attacks on New York and
Washington. Threatening phone calls, shouted taunts, and acts of
vandalism have been reported.

From Arizona and Texas, come reports of a gas station owner (a
Sikh, neither Arab nor Muslim) and a store owner (a Pakistani) shot
and killed.

These are profoundly un-American actions. The hard lessons of the
past, such as the regrettable internment of Japanese-Americans
during World War II, can't be forgotten. The American system will
not again tolerate retaliation against a whole segment of the
population.

But misguided individuals or mobs, responding to events with a
rage that has more in common with the terrorists' motives than with
American values of justice and fairness, may try to cross that
line. They act from ignorance, targeting anyone who wears a turban
or a head scarf - or throwing bricks or shooting at Islamic places
of worship, whose members are just as intent on praying for peace
as congregations in churches or synagogues. …